Apra Carolinas Immediate Past President, Beth Inman (National Director of Prospect Development for JDRF) has shared her thoughts on seeing fundraising from a different perspective -- that of a fundraiser:
My daughter is a sophomore at Academic Magnet High School in Charleston, SC – stick with me here, I promise this post is not about my daughter! In the fall of her freshman year, I was thrilled to learn that her (public) school had a foundation, the Academic Magnet Foundation, whose mission is to “preserve the long-term excellence of the school by supporting leading-edge academic and arts enrichment opportunities that help prepare the students to become successful and productive citizens.” Every fall, the Foundation hosts a fundraising campaign called Thanks for Giving to raise funds for the programs it supports, like Summer Scholars, a 4 day orientation before school starts to help incoming freshman with the transition from middle school to the school’s unique academic environment. As a parent who has lived (barely) through all the variations of school and sports team fundraisers like wrapping paper, cookie dough, Booster-thons, etc., I have long been a proponent of raising funds for schools annual-giving style, if possible. That is, ask the school’s families and local businesses to donate funds (all of which go to the school) instead of burdening the parents with selling crap they end up having to get payment for and then deliver (and the school only gets a small percentage of the sales). Let me back up a minute, though: I don’t think schools should have to fundraise at all, but that’s a conversation for another day!
Fast forward to the end of my daughter’s freshman year when there was a call for volunteers for the various parent organizations, including the Foundation. I raised my hand and the next thing I know, I’m in charge of the Thanks for Giving campaign for this fall. My disclaimer to the Foundation’s Board was I am not a frontline fundraiser BUT I do know fundraising and I was willing to give it a shot. The campaign runs from the beginning of November until the end of December each year and for the past few years the total amount given has flatlined. It’s still an impressive amount but we were looking for ways to boost that. So far, we’ve been creative with ways of contacting the parents (personal email then following up with a text message instead of a phone call) and we’ve done a challenge match which was tremendously successful. As I write this, we’re halfway through the campaign and we’re 81% to our goal. This is so exciting for me partly because I know how important these funds are but also, from a professional perspective, I am seeing fundraising from a different perspective.
At the beginning of the campaign, I had a call with a potential business partner and ended the call with a generous pledge both from the business as well as from the business owner. I asked for a gift and they said yes – what a high! In that moment, I was in the role of a frontline fundraiser and I got it. I got why they are passionate about what they do. Don’t get me wrong, I was a nervous wreck before the call but I survived and the experience of that call and other conversations about supporting the campaign has really expanded my perspective of a frontline fundraiser’s role. The chair of the Foundation’s Board and I made the call together which was really helpful. We approached it strategically and planned who was going to say what – he started the call with background on the Foundation and what we support and I followed up with details on the campaign and made the ask. It’s not easy to call and ask someone or a business for a gift; on some level, we are all afraid of rejection but the key is to have your homework prepared (which your prospect development colleagues can definitely help you with!) and to make the ask. Don’t dance around it, be direct and just ask! A former boss of mine used to say that the prospect should know they’ve been asked and that has always stuck with me.
The bottom line is we need each other – the fundraisers need us and we need the fundraisers – the ability and willingness to see things from each other’s viewpoints is vital and can only serve to make us all more successful. I challenge my prospect development colleagues to get involved in a fundraising effort for a cause about which you are passionate and gain a new or different perspective on our field. Likewise, I also challenge my frontline fundraiser colleagues to join in while a prospect development colleague drafts a comprehensive profile in preparation for a senior leadership visit or while a portfolio is being prepared for a new development officer. It’s worth it, I promise.
